


The Parallel Universe Venture

by superlc529



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 19:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superlc529/pseuds/superlc529
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to Sheldon's new toy, Sheldon and Penny find themselves in a parallel universe where Penny never moved in across the hall. How can they hope to get back? And what changes might occur between them along the way?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Just a Normal Trip to the Comic Book Store…

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own The Big Bang Theory. If I did, believe me, there’d be a certain difference in certain ships… This story has been published on ff.net for awhile (since the beginning of 2013) and I decided to bring it on over here. :) This was my first dive into the BBT universe. Please be kind. The idea swirled around in my mind for a long time and it just wouldn’t give up. I hope you guys like it if you haven't had the chance to read it before. Shenny Forever!!!
> 
> Tagline: There are some constants throughout the universe…

The Parallel Universe Venture

“It’s New Comic Book night, Penny,” Sheldon stated as he got in the passenger seat of Penny’s Volkswagen.

“Uh-huh,” Penny replied on auto-pilot, taking a sip of her coffee, and got into the driver’s seat.

“Thank you for picking me up, Penny,” Sheldon said as he put his seatbelt on.

“Uh-huh,” Penny said again, starting the engine. After a moment of silence when they got on the road, Penny started talking again, “Remind me again why Leonard couldn’t take you home?”

“Not home,” Sheldon corrected, “Not yet, at least. Comic Book store first, _then_ home.”

“Right,” Penny widened her eyes in annoyance and corrected herself, “So, remind me again why Leonard couldn’t do this and I had to give up my night off to pick you up?”

“He said he had to work late tonight. It was the only time he could use the electron laser. And for some unknown reason, Howard and Raj said they had to help him,” Sheldon turned his head, “Honestly, Penny, you need to work on your listening skills.”

Penny rolled her eyes and shook her head as she took another sip of her coffee. She knew that lately Leonard, Raj, and Howard have been using that as an excuse to escape Sheldon every so often.

“What about Bernadette?” Penny turned to him.

“Also working late tonight,” Sheldon replied.

“Amy?” Penny tried once more.

“Ever since we mutually decided to end our relationship agreement and returned to girl slash friend slash boy slash friend status, she believed it best that she not have to pick me up from work if the situation so called for it,” Sheldon explained.

“Oh yeah. Sorry,” Penny momentarily forgot about “the Shamy” breaking up.

Her own break-up with Leonard (again) was at the forefront of her mind. “Lenny” as Howard came to call them called it quits only a day before “Shamy.” When she and Leonard announced to their friends that they were broken up, nobody was really surprised. In fact, Sheldon called it. Thankfully though, she and Leonard agreed to stay friends and after two tries, they both thought it to be for the best. Leonard maturely said that they weren’t meant to be and Penny followed saying they’d always be friends. She was forever grateful that her stupidity wouldn’t cost her a wonderful friend.

She could’ve said no in picking her Dr. Whack-A-Doodle up from work, but she could never say no to him. Who was she kidding? And since when did she start referring to him as ‘hers’?

“Your check engine light is on again,” Sheldon pointed, bringing Penny out of her inner thoughts.

“Yup,” Penny said. They were getting closer to the comic book store.

“When are you going to take this vehicle to a service station and get that straightened out?” Sheldon asked, “I’ve never felt comfortable in an unmanaged car.”

“As soon as I can afford it,” Penny said and just as Sheldon opened his mouth to offer her a loan, she cut him off, “No thanks, Moon Pie, I can manage on my own.”

“Clearly not,” Sheldon muttered and folded his arms, “And only MeeMaw calls me ‘Moon Pie’.”

Penny couldn’t help but let the small smirk crawl onto her face. She loved riling him up. Just as they reached a comfortable silence in the car and Penny shifted into park in the back of the comic book store, the Volkswagen made an unsettling noise and conked out.

“What was that?” Sheldon looked worried.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Penny waved it off, “It does that all the time.”

“Try turning the car back on to make sure,” Sheldon ordered.

Penny did just that, but the car wouldn’t start back up, “Perfect.”

“The engine died,” Sheldon stated the obvious.

“Looks like it,” Penny sank in her seat.

“How are we going to make it home in time for _Halo_ Night and pizza?” Sheldon’s voice shook with worry.

“We will,” Penny patted his knee, “Come on. Let’s get your new comics. I’ll take care of my car tomorrow night. We can order the pizza from in the store and take a cab home, all in time to play _Halo_.”

“Tonight’s _Halo 3_ ,” Sheldon corrected her.

“Whatever,” Penny got out of the car.

“And I’m not taking a cab,” Sheldon objected as they both walked into the store.

“Hey, Penny,” Stuart greeted her.

“Hi, Stuart,” Penny waved.

“I’m not taking a cab,” Sheldon objected once again, completely oblivious to Stuart’s interruption.

“You did when Bernadette, Amy, and me took you dancing,” Penny countered.

“I,” Sheldon couldn’t help but correct her.

“What?” Penny arched her brow.

“It’s ‘Bernadette, Amy, and _I_ ’… not ‘me’,” Sheldon elaborated.

“Whatever,” Penny shook her head, “You’re taking a cab. Or would you rather we skip _Halo 3_ and pizza tonight while we wait for someone to tow my car?”

“Cab it is,” Sheldon declared and went straight for his precious new comic books.

“How long since those two started going out?” Captain Underpants whispered to Stuart, pausing from thumbing through a _Captain America_ comic book.

“They haven’t,” Stuart shook his head, “At least I don’t think so.”

Penny closed her phone from ordering the pizza and walked over to Sheldon. He just ran over to some new toy with an exclamation like he was a kid in a candy store. Well, technically, he sort of was except the candy was comic books.

“Oooo! This is definitely new,” Sheldon picked up a new toy.

“What is it?,” Penny came up to his side. She wasn’t too interested, but it was better to keep up conversation with Sheldon than have Stuart shamelessly trying to pick her up… again.

“This is the transport device Superman and the scientist Professor Emil Hamilton found hidden in a compartment of the rocket that brought Superman to Earth in _Superman: The Animated Series_ ,” Sheldon started explaining, “This device was used to transport beings to and from the Phantom Zone and you could view into it.”

“Fascinating,” Penny showed mock enthusiasm.

“I have to buy this,” Sheldon ran his hand over the toy with a delicate, loving hand.

“So get it,” Penny said, “I just ordered your sausage, mushroom, and light olive pizza. It should be delivered by the time we get home.”

“Good,” Sheldon looked up for a second before diverting his attention back to his prized new toy.

Within a few minutes, Sheldon purchased a couple of new comic books and the replica toy from _Superman: The Animated Series_ and they were outside of the store, hailing a cab. Penny was doing the hailing. Sheldon was busy looking at his new toy.

“There’s a ‘try me’ button,” Sheldon exclaimed with glee.

“Awesome,” Penny replied dryly. She wasn’t really paying attention. One cab completely ignored her, driving past. Penny sighed in resignation and went to see what Sheldon was talking about before trying to hail another cab.

“Let’s see what it does,” Sheldon pressed the button. It made a couple of bleeping noises and flashed a bright light in their eyes before dying down again, “That was anti-climactic.”

“Can’t have everything, honey,” Penny patted him on the arm and turned her attention back to getting a cab. Finally, one stopped for the duo.

Just as they started to move to get into the cab, a biker zoomed by directly in front of Sheldon, startling him, and made him drop the toy on the ground in one big crunch.

“My transporter!” Sheldon exclaimed in grief.

“Sheldon, come on, we have to go home,” Penny leaned out the door of the cab.

“I have to get an exchange,” Sheldon picked up his broken toy.

“Can’t,” Penny gestured to the comic book store’s door, “Looks like Stuart closed early tonight.”

“Noooo,” Sheldon whined.

“Sheldon, get in the car,” Penny ordered, “I’ll stop by the comic store first thing in the morning before work and exchange it for you.”

“Promise?” Sheldon didn’t believe her.

“I promise,” Penny smiled, “Now get in the cab. It’s already 7:30.”

At that, Sheldon jumped into the cab causing Penny to scoot over. She turned to the cab driver and said their address, “2311 Los Robles, please.”

S~*~P

“Hurry up, Sheldon,” Penny said hurriedly, bouncing up and down on her heels, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Then use your own,” Sheldon argued.

“I’m already hanging out over here, playing _Halo 3_ with you,” Penny said defiantly, “Just open the damn door.”

Sheldon opened the door and Penny ran inside, heading straight for the bathroom. He called out to her, “That’s what you get for drinking coffee while driving!”

He set all of his things down from work in their proper place and went into his room to put away his new comic books and destroyed toy.

Just as Sheldon disappeared into his room, Leonard, Raj, and Howard entered the apartment.

“T-minus ten seconds until our official Sheldon-free time,” Leonard was looking at his watch as he walked in the apartment. Howard and Raj followed him with pizza in tow.

“Five… four… three… two… one,” Howard, Raj, and Leonard chanted and let out a whoop.

“Officially five days free of Dr. Nut job,” Howard stated and put the pizza box down on the table.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for two weeks,” Raj sighed, sitting next to Howard.

“ _You’ve_ been looking forward to it?” Leonard scoffed, “I’ve had this day marked down in my calendar for a month. I’ll finally get some peace from…”

“Sheldon?” Howard furrowed his brows at said physicist entering the room.

“I see you three finished early,” Sheldon said smugly, “I knew you couldn’t resist _Halo 3_.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Raj asked annoyed.

“I live here,” Sheldon said and bent down to get their TV ready for the game.

“You’re supposed to be on a train for a science conference,” Leonard said.

“Not that I recall and I recall everything,” Sheldon continued to set up the game.

“Is it possible we confused the dates in anticipation?” Howard tried.

“Not likely, I’ve had this in my calendar,” Leonard repeated.

“You’re mistaken, Leonard… a common occurrence,” Sheldon said and started to hand out the game controllers, “It’s getting closer to eight o’clock, get ready for some _Halo 3_.”

“There’s always next conference,” Raj tried.

“No,” Leonard wasn’t letting this go. He set down his game controller, “You called us an hour ago saying you were getting on the train for the conference. I reiterate, what are you doing here, Sheldon?”

Before Sheldon could go on one of his rants, Penny entered the living room, “Great! The pizza’s here.”

Howard, Raj, and Leonard stared at her blankly, mouths agape. Penny grabbed a slice, took a bite, and moaned out in pleasure, “So good.”

Penny promptly sat down in Sheldon’s spot. Sheldon walked over, looked down at her, and raised his eyebrows. Letting out a sigh, she scooted over causing Howard to numbly scoot over, effectively moving Raj to the floor. Still the three men stared at Penny in awe. Sheldon took his own slice of pizza, oblivious to their reactions.

“So I take it we’re taking the pizza break before we start the game?” Penny asked, catching a mushroom falling from her mouth.

“Penny, don’t speak with your mouth full of pizza,” Sheldon lectured. Penny rolled her eyes and opened her mouth wide playfully with her chewed-up pizza in Sheldon’s face. She laughed as Sheldon rolled his eyes.

He simply ignored her and continued, “But, yes it appears we’re eating first.”

“Uh-Uh, I’m sorry, but, um,” Leonard stammered, finding his voice.

“Hmm,” Penny looked up expectantly at him.

“W-Who are you?” Leonard managed.

Sheldon and Penny cocked their heads and furrowed their brows in sync in confusion.

“She’s a gorgeous shiksah goddess is who she is!” Howard blurted.

“It’s _Penny_ ,” Sheldon stated the obvious.

“Why are you pretending you don’t know me?” Penny was offended.

Leonard just shook his head, “Believe me, I’d remember if I knew _you_.”

Raj turned and whispered in Howard’s ear. Howard nodded, “Yeah, how did you, a gorgeous creature such as yourself, cross paths with _Sheldon_?”

“Crossed paths?” Penny shook her head. She was beyond confused and into concerned fear.

“Stop playing games, Leonard, I don’t appreciate them,” Sheldon said, “And this one is most certainly not humorous in any way.”

“Howard Wolowitz,” Howard stuck his hand out for Penny to shake, “I’m the small package good things come in.”

“Any particular reason you’re introducing yourself to someone who has known all of us for five years?” Sheldon questioned, “And who of which is a treasured friend?”

“Okay,” Penny stood up. She couldn’t take this weirdness anymore, “Whatever weird game you three are playing isn’t funny. It’s me. Penny. Your neighbor over in 4B…”

“4B?” Leonard cut her off, gesturing out the door with his thumb, “You mean the current tenant whom of which is a two-hundred pound transvestite cop with a skin condition named Louie slash Louise?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Leonard,” Sheldon got up and stood next to Penny, “That was the previous tenant before Penny moved in.”

“He’s still living there,” Leonard stated. Howard and Raj watched their back and forth like a tennis match.

Just when Leonard was about to say something further, his phone went off with the Joker from Batman’s laugh. He took it out and looked at the caller ID, furrowing his brows.

“Who is it?” Howard wondered.

“Sheldon,” Leonard looked up at his roommate. For the first time ever, Dr. Sheldon Cooper was just as confused as every other occupant in the apartment.


	2. Chapter 1: Firefly and Twilight Zone

“How can I be calling? I’m standing right here and I clearly don’t have my phone in my hand,” Sheldon was actually confused.

“Maybe you butt-dialed him?” Howard tried.

Leonard answered his phone, putting it on speakerphone so all his friends could hear, “Hello?”

_“Leonard? I regret to inform you that I… I need you to go into my room to retrieve the key to my desk drawer for my flash drive,” Sheldon’s voice could be heard coming from the phone. He spoke quickly because what he had to say pained him._

“Sheldon?” Leonard squeaked. Everybody looked towards one another just as confused and scared as the next person.

_“Who do you think it is? Stephen Hawking? Yes, it’s Sheldon,” the other Sheldon replied, annoyed, “I need you to retrieve my flash drive for me to e-mail my paper to me. In my preparations for my trip, I regretfully forgot to pack it.”_

“Uhhh,” Leonard stuttered, “Um, yeah, okay, sure.” He went to Sheldon’s room to do as his roommate said.

“I don’t know about you guys,” Howard started, “but I’m getting a little scared at the idea that we have two Sheldons.”

“What the hell is going on?” Penny voiced everybody’s confusion.

Raj shook his head and Howard voiced it, “No idea…”

“But on a different, and more lovely note, you never quite introduced yourself properly,” Howard turned to Penny.

“Nor does she have to,” Sheldon stood in front of Penny protectively.

Leonard came back into the living room with his phone to his ear, the speakerphone clearly off. He was nodding and asking questions to follow his roommate’s instructions. After a minute or so, Leonard had Sheldon’s paper e-mailed and he put him back on speakerphone.

“Sheldon, can I ask you a question?” Leonard started.

_“Considering your status in the physics world, I’d encourage it,” his roommate replied._

“By any chance, do you have a twin?” Leonard asked.

_“Actually I do…,” the physicist replied._

Howard, Raj, and Leonard’s eyes widened. Penny looked to Sheldon and furrowed her brows while Sheldon crossed his arms and sighed.

_“… I have a twin sister named Missy,” he continued, “She visited me at the University once, but she left before I had a chance to introduce you.”_

“So there isn’t anybody related to you that could look exactly like you?” Leonard tried.

_“Leonard, are you ill?” the other Sheldon remarked._

“N-Nothing, never mind,” Leonard shook his head, “Enjoy your conference.”

_“I most certainly will,” he hung up without so much as a thank you to his roommate for e-mailing him his paper._

“Twin theory’s out,” Howard stated.

“I think I might know what’s going on,” Sheldon announced.

“Do tell,” Penny turned to him.

“You and I have travelled to a parallel universe, or rather, a parallel Earth,” Sheldon said, his arms behind his back, as he proceeded to sit back down in his spot.

“Say what?” Penny uncrossed her arms.

From his spot, he looked up at Penny and elaborated, “It’s similar to when I told you about the Infinite Worlds theory. We’ve found ourselves in an alternate reality, a parallel dimension or earth, a reality that is similar to our own but has very minute differences. Apparently, in this universe, you never moved across the hall from us and therefore this Leonard, Raj, Howard, and my other self have never met you.”

“How is this even possible?” Penny sat on the edge of the couch next to Sheldon.

“Perhaps it was my new toy,” Sheldon hypothesized.

“What are you two talking about?” Leonard shook his head, “Are you trying to say that a _toy_ somehow transported you here?”

Raj whispered into Howard’s ear and he echoed it, “Good point. How else are you going to explain two Sheldons and this lovely creature in our presence?”

“Give me a minute,” Leonard bit his lip.

“You mean that Fenton Zone thingy from the Superman cartoon?” Penny tried to make sense of what Sheldon was saying.

“ _Phantom_ Zone transport device, yes,” Sheldon corrected her.

“Where’d you get that?” Howard’s eyes widened. There was a hint of envy in his voice.

“The comic book store,” Sheldon replied smugly.

“I’m sorry, I’m just having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that a _toy_ transported you to an alternate or uh, rather a parallel universe,” Leonard shook his head once again and folded his arms over each other.

Raj leaned over to Howard and whispered into his ear, “Yeah, Raj agrees.”

“Sheldon, why don’t you get Raj a beer?” Penny suggested, “I’m sure Howard’s ear would appreciate it.”

“It would,” Howard said, “… but how would that help?”

“That’s right, since you never met Penny, we never discovered the magic of alcohol for Raj,” Sheldon got up to go get the beer Penny suggested.

Raj’s eyes widened and looked excited. He leaned over to Howard’s ear once again, but he cut him off, “Just wait for the beer and let them explain.”

Sheldon handed the beer to Raj and explained as the Indian took a sip, “A couple months after we met Penny, she was practicing in bartending for her position at _The Cheesecake Factory_. Penny made him a grasshopper, a drink composed of…”

“Raj can talk to women when he has alcohol,” Penny cut him off.

“Ohhh, thank you,” Raj smiled and lifted his beer up to her in a toast, “Hey, listen to me, I’m talking.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but here we go,” Leonard started, “So you two are from a parallel universe where she is our next door neighbor? And by some out-of-this-world occurrence, you’ve arrived here from a replica toy of a Phantom Zone transporter from a Superman cartoon that you got from the comic book store?”

“It’s the only possible explanation,” Sheldon said.

Leonard let out a long sigh, “Fair enough.”

“That actually makes sense to you guys?” Penny stood up, “I’m a part of this and it makes zero sense to me.”

“Naturally,” Sheldon commented and Penny gave him a death glare.

“After all of our comic book reading, something like this was bound to happen in real life at some point,” Howard shrugged.

Penny closed her eyes and shook her head. If it wasn’t happening to her, she never would’ve believed it in a million years.

Sheldon looked at his watch and exhaled loudly, “And it appears this little detour in our conversation has caused us to be ten minutes over our agreed upon eight o’clock time for _Halo_ night.”

“Are you freaking kidding me? You still wanna play _Halo_?” Raj couldn’t believe his ears.

“ _Halo 3_ ,” Penny corrected and then turned her head in disbelief like she couldn’t believe it just came out of her mouth. She shook her head and got back on track, “They’re right though, Sheldon. Given the circumstances, I think we should pass on our video game tonight.”

“Pass? On our video game tonight?” Sheldon’s Texas drawl came out. “We can’t. Tonight’s _Halo_ night, or rather _Halo 3_ night, and we’re eating pizza.”

Leonard opened his mouth to start to see if he could talk his roommate’s doppelganger out of his routine, but before he could get a word out, Penny was already working her magic.

“Sweetie, think about it like this: We are in, and I still can’t believe this, a parallel… uh… dimension. So for, as you would say, all intents and purposes, when we’re here, you don’t have to stick to your schedule because we’re not in our own world,” Penny tried.

Sheldon looked like he was thinking for a moment, pursed his lips, cocked his head and said, “That actually makes an iota of sense. Some schedules I refuse to part with, but this one seems acceptable to pass on for tonight.”

“Wow,” Howard expressed his, Raj, and Leonard’s astonishment at how Penny was able to handle the unmanageable Dr. Cooper.

“Given that we are forgoing what is scheduled in our universe, I motion that we try to see if we can fix our ticket home,” Sheldon got up to go get the toy from his room.

“How did you do that?” Leonard walked over and sat down in his chair.

“Do what?” Penny wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

“Control Sheldon like that,” Howard elaborated.

“Oh, I figured that out awhile ago,” Penny waved her hand like it was nothing, “It took me awhile to figure it out, but once I did, it’s become very useful.”

“What was your name again?” Raj asked.

“Penny,” she replied. It was strange introducing herself to her best friends and even stranger to wrap her head around the fact that these men were not technically the nerds she’s come to know and love.

Her stomach let out a low growl. She gave her boys a small embarrassed smile before she grabbed another slice of pizza, “No use to let the pizza go to waste.”

“Here it is,” Sheldon re-entered the living room with the transporter device.

“That’s awesome,” Howard couldn’t help but admire the replica toy from the cartoon.

“Isn’t it though?” Sheldon admired it, “Well, except for the fact it’s broken.”

“How did that happen?” Raj asked.

“A biker rode passed Sheldon and scared him, making him drop the toy before we got into the cab,” Penny explained and then took another bite of pizza.

“Cab?” Leonard cocked an eyebrow, “Sheldon doesn’t ride in cabs.”

“I do with Penny,” Sheldon said like it was the most natural thing in the world, “In addition, the only reason we were taking a cab was because Penny’s vehicle died.”

“Let’s take a look at it,” Leonard held out his hands for Sheldon to hand him the toy. Instead of handing it directly to him, he put it down on their coffee table.

“Doesn’t look too bad,” Howard commented, “At least it’s mostly in one piece.”

“How did you guys end up here?” Leonard asked, “Did you press anything?”

“He pressed the ‘try me’ button,” Penny pointed.

“Yes, there were a few anti-climatic flashing lights and some bleeping noises,” Sheldon said.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if this thing worked the way it did in the cartoon?” Howard scooted forward on the couch.

“Doesn’t it sort of do that already?” Penny asked, “We _are_ here after all.”

“I believe Howard is referring to the Phantom Zone,” Sheldon shifted himself on the floor by Penny’s feet to focus on the toy. Leonard kneeled next to Sheldon.

“No actually, I wasn’t,” Howard said, “I meant that the device could view into the zone, right? Well, I thought it’d be cool if we could view into your universe.”

“Hmm, that’s plausible,” Sheldon said, “Though for the time-being, Howard, I believe we should focus on me and Penny returning home.”

“Maybe we should get what we can take,” Raj took another sip of beer.

“Easy for you to say,” Penny said.

“Not since the magic of alcohol has granted me the ability to speak in front of you,” Raj smiled, misinterpreting what she meant, “Thank you, Penny.”

Penny rolled her eyes with a smile and a shake of her head.

“Looks like there are a couple of loose screws,” Howard was looking at the toy more closely, “It looks repairable, but I don’t know how you two are going to be able to return home.”

“It got us here, it will be able to get us back home,” Sheldon said, “As much as I have wished for a Ganger like they had in the _Doctor Who_ series six two-parter: _The Rebel Flesh_ and _The Almost People_ , having two Sheldons in one reality would be too much genius for the world to be able to handle.”

“Yeah, that’s why it would be bad,” Leonard remarked.

“See? You agree with me,” Sheldon was completely oblivious to the sarcasm, as usual.

“Thank goodness Howard’s a mechanical engineer,” Penny said, “I know the rest of you couldn’t even work on that destructive robot thing when Howard was sulking at home.”

“What?” Howard turned his head.

“Something that happened in our universe,” Sheldon waved his hand, “It’s not imperative to what we’re doing here.”

“I’ll have to go home and grab my toolbox to see if we can try and fix this,” Howard stood up, “Unless you two have any tools here?”

“Not for fixing anything,” Leonard shook his head, “Only tools we have here are lasers, white boards, mirrors…”

“I got it,” Howard put his hand up to stop Leonard from continuing his list.

“Are you going to go get your tools or what?” Penny looked to Howard, “No offense, but I’d rather get back to our own universe. I can’t afford any more points for being late to work…”

“That brings up an interesting dilemma,” Sheldon said, “Is time passing in our universe?”

“I don’t know, is it?” Penny asked, getting a little annoyed. The sarcasm was evident in her voice to everyone but Sheldon.

“I’m not sure,” Sheldon pursed his lips.

Leonard let out a small laugh, “There’s something you don’t hear every day.”

“Maybe I should try to figure it out,” Sheldon started toward a white board.

“Don’t, sweetie,” Penny stopped him, “I was just making a passing comment. I’m sure we’ll be back at home in no time.”

“But now that I’m thinking about it, I need to figure it out,” Sheldon countered.

“Just let it go, honey,” Penny shook her head, “Just forget I said anything.”

“Penny, you know me enough to know that I can’t _forget_ anything,” Sheldon started on one of his lectures, “I have an eidetic memory…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you remember everything,” Penny cut him off before he could ramble any more.

“Exactly,” Sheldon said, “Which is why I can’t forget your comment about the possibility of time passing in our world.”

“Fine,” Penny gave in. She knew it was fruitless to try and argue with Dr. Whack-A-Doodle, “Tell me if you figure it out so I know if I’ll have to start looking for a new job.”

“I shall,” Sheldon looked pleased with the fact he could work on the very problem Penny brought up.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Howard spoke up, “Like I said, I need to go get my tools from my house.”

“So go get them,” Leonard said.

“That’s the thing,” Howard looked a little uneasy, “I wouldn’t be able to get them _tonight_. Ma needs me to take her to her _Weight Watchers_ meeting tonight.”

“Why can’t she just take herself?” Penny asked.

“Well, you see, my mother is…” Howard started to explain.

“No, I know all about your mother,” Penny stopped him, “ _Too much_ about your mother.”

“Yeah, well, she needs me to take her because if I don’t, she’s afraid that she’ll eat the whole spread they leave out at the meetings,” Howard said.

“If it’s a _Weight Watchers_ meeting, why do they have a spread?” Raj was confused.

“It’s how they get them to keep coming back,” Howard said, “But I’d be able to bring the tools over to fix the device first thing in the morning.”

“Can’t,” Raj shook his head, “We have work first thing in the morning.”

“What? So we have to wait until tomorrow night?” Penny looked a little peeved.

“If we’re gonna use my tools,” Howard shrugged apologetically.

“Maybe we can just go to the store and get some,” Penny suggested.

“Would you even know what to get?” Sheldon crossed his arms.

“No, but neither would you,” Penny commented.

“Okay, so I guess we’re using Howard’s tools,” Leonard said and started a plan, “Tomorrow after work, Howard can go home and get his tools to fix the device, and right after we’ll get to working on it to get you two back home.”

“I can’t wait to see this universe’s university,” Sheldon looked excited and sat down in his spot.

“You can’t,” Leonard stated.

“Why not?” Sheldon looked up at Leonard.

“The you from this universe is on a science conference out of town, funded by the university,” Leonard explained, “If you showed up to work, people would get suspicious.”

“Hold up. So, you’re basically telling me I’m gonna be stuck here all day tomorrow with Sheldon?” Penny’s voice went up.

“Our humblest apologies,” Raj apologized.

“That’s not too bad, Penny, we’ve hung out for hours before,” Sheldon shrugged.

“Not the _whole_ _day_ , Sheldon,” Penny shook her head, “And I was in the comfort of my own apartment with a wine bottle; emphasis on the wine.”

Howard looked at his watch, “And as much as I hate to leave, and I really do, I have to head out to take my mother to that meeting.”

“All right,” Leonard walked closer to Howard to show him out the door, “We’ll text you with a more detailed plan later about tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Howard nodded and started for the door.

“Wait, you’re my ride,” Raj jumped up.

Howard turned to Penny and said, “Until we meet again, sweet angel.”

Raj waved at the trio and exited the apartment with Howard.

S~*~P

“I forgot just how much creepier Howard was before Bernadette,” Penny commented and headed for her spot on the couch before taking another slice of pizza, “Not that he isn’t still creepy.”

“Bernadette?” Leonard cocked his head before sitting down next to her.

“Howard’s wife,” Sheldon explained.

“ _Wife_?” Leonard’s eyes bulged out, “Boy, things really are different in your universe, huh?”

“I guess,” Penny said, “Sheldon even had a girlfriend… Amy.”

“So you two live in the _Twilight Zone_ ,” Leonard said dryly. It sounded like a question and yet was still a statement.

“We most certainly do not,” Sheldon objected, “We do not live in a world that was created by the brilliant Rod Serling.”

“He was being sarcastic, sweetie,” Penny looked up to Sheldon and patted his arm.

“I actually sorta wasn’t,” Leonard said and also looked to Sheldon, “ _You_ had a girlfriend?”

“She’s still my friend,” Sheldon said, “Her name is Amy Farrah Fowler and our relationship paradigm as boyfriend and girlfriend was _nothing_ like yours and Penny’s.”

“Wait,” Leonard held up a finger and started to stumble over his words, “Y-You dated your L-Leonard?”

“Yeah,” Penny nodded.

“Lucky bastard,” Leonard muttered under his breath.

“If we’re going to be sticking to not sticking to my usual schedule then I suggest that perhaps we should get a good night’s sleep so we’ll be operating on prime level in order to fix our ticket home,” Sheldon suggested.

“It’s only nine,” Penny objected, “I’m not going to bed at nine… especially when I don’t even have a bed to go to. Speaking of which, what are we going to be doing about that?”

“You can take the couch,” Sheldon said, “You have before.”

“I just thought of something,” Penny grasped Sheldon’s arm. Leonard noticed and looked to his friend who normally would go on a rant about someone touching him, not saying a thing or even flinching for that matter.

Penny continued, “What am I going to wear to bed?”

“You mean to ‘couch’?” Sheldon corrected, looking smug.

“Yes, ‘to couch’,” Penny gave him a death glare, “In fact, what am I going to be doing about a change of clothes at all? It’s not like I can go across the hall and get something from my apartment.”

“Well, Louie slash Louise might have a dress or something for you,” Leonard suggested.

“No, they’re nowhere near the same size,” Sheldon said, “I doubt we’ll be here too long for a change of clothes to be necessary anyhow.”

“Easy for you to say, you got a duplicate of your closet in the other room,” Penny argued.

“Exactly,” Sheldon smiled.

“It really shouldn’t be too long,” Leonard tried to ease her mind, “I’m sure we’ll be able to get you back home quickly… and if not, Priya’s visiting… uh, that’s Raj’s sister, and she could maybe loan you some change of clothes.”

“I guess that could work,” Penny sighed, “But no dress pants.”

“And as for attire to wear for sleep,” Sheldon cut in, “You could always just take one of my shirts.”

“ _You’re_ offering for someone else to wear _your_ clothing?” Leonard couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This Sheldon was most definitely different than his own.

“She can’t wear any of your things, you’re just about the same size,” Sheldon countered. Penny hid a smirk behind her hand as Leonard glared at him.

“This universe’s Sheldon will never know it anyway. As per our Roommate Agreement and I’m assuming that it’s the same here: In the event that there are any soiled clothes in my laundry, and I am elsewhere, as I am at a science conference or off accepting a Nobel Prize, Leonard will wash them on the designated laundry day before my return. Since you said that your Sheldon is gone for a week, whatever shirt Penny would wear to sleep would be washed and put away by the time your Sheldon returns. He’d be none the wiser,” Sheldon stated.

“Yeah, that’s not in my roommate agreement,” Leonard said.

“Hmm, I was sure that’d be something that would stay constant throughout all universes. May I see it then?” Sheldon said and held out his hand.

“Yeah, I was lying, it really is, but I don’t want to do your laundry,” Leonard said, “Normally when that happens, I just take it to the dry cleaners.”

“Okay,” Penny started as she saw Sheldon about to object on his doppelganger’s behalf, “I guess that works then. I’ll just borrow one of Sheldon’s shirts to sleep. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Do you guys want to do something to pass the time? Maybe you could regal me with some tales from your universe of you and your Leonard?” Leonard tried desperately to change the subject.

“I could, but I don’t think there’d be much difference between your relationship with your Sheldon here,” Sheldon started.

“I think he was talking to me, honey,” Penny said.

“Well, you don’t know that,” Sheldon said and turned to Leonard, “Tell her who you were talking to, Leonard.”

“I was talking to Penny,” Leonard pointed to Penny and switched seats, now sitting in his chair.

“You really need to work on being more specific,” Sheldon scolded.

“I think that’d get boring really quickly anyway,” Penny said, “How about we watch a movie or something?”

“Ooo! I know,” Sheldon got excited, “How about we do a bit of a _Firefly_ marathon and then watch _Serenity_. You never got to finish that marathon that we started that time…”

“Oh yeah! That’s the show with that hot guy from _Castle_ , right?” Penny asked.

“Nathan Fillion, yes,” Sheldon replied.

“That sounds fun,” Penny said, “I could deal with that. And then whatever we don’t finish we could finish tomorrow why the guys are at work.”

“Sound plan, Penny,” Sheldon praised her.

“Right,” Leonard interrupted them before they could continue. It seemed like they totally forgot he was sitting there, “As much as I love Nathan Fillion and _Firefly_ , I think I _am_ going to go to bed early.”

“Aww, you sure, Leonard?” Penny looked a little disappointed as Sheldon went to get his _Firefly_ DVD set.

“Yeah,” Leonard stood up.

“Well, if you’re sure,” Penny said and gave him a small smile, “Good night, Leonard.”

“Good night, Penny,” Leonard waved to her, “‘Night, Sheldon.”

“Have pleasant dreams, Leonard,” Sheldon didn’t even look up at him as he came back to sit next to Penny with the DVD set. They were sitting extremely close to each other and neither one seemed to notice while they were looking at which episode of the series to watch next.

Leonard gave them both a small smile and a wave. As he neared the turn in the hallway to get to his room, he turned around to look back at his roommate’s doppelganger and Penny on the couch. They clearly decided which episode to watch next as the main screen started up on the TV. They were still seated close to each other in their usual spots. In fact, Penny was even subconsciously leaning toward Sheldon and said physicist with a germ phobia didn’t seem to notice or even care.

“ _Twilight Zone_ ,” Leonard stated to himself with a shake of his head and headed into his room.


	3. Chapter 2: Missing

Light rays made their way through apartment 4A, settling on Sheldon’s arm laid out on the arm of the couch comfortably in the living room. Penny was wearing one of Sheldon’s favorite Flash shirts with the lightning bolt on them. During their marathon, she decided to change, as she and Sheldon were planning to both go to bed not long after. Time got away from them and they both fell asleep together on the couch. Penny’s head was against Sheldon’s chest and his arm was around her back as they both continued in their pleasant slumber.

Leonard stood in front of them in continued disbelief at what he was seeing. He shook his head once again and quietly headed off to work.

S~*~P

“She was sleeping _on_ him?” Howard couldn’t believe his ears.

“Yeah,” Leonard nodded, “And he had his arm around her.”

“I didn’t realize their parallel world was the _Twilight Zone_ ,” Raj commented.

“That’s what I said,” Leonard remarked as he forked through his lunch.

“The sooner we get them back home the better,” Howard took a bite from his sandwich and looked back up at Leonard, “And she really was wearing one of his shirts?”

“Flash,” Leonard nodded, “And he didn’t even care. It was like watching some weird carnival side-show. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing or hearing, but it was really happening.”

“Weird,” Raj said.

S~*~P

Penny bit her lip, looked down at her sandwich, and back up at Sheldon who was working on something at a whiteboard, “You okay, sweetie?”

Sheldon continued to scribble on the board making no indication as to whether he heard her or not.

“Sweetie?” Penny got up and tapped Sheldon on the shoulder, “Sheldon?”

He turned around and capped the marker.

She started fingering her shirt, having deciding to change into her same clothes from the previous day and out of her borrowed Flash shirt, “You okay from this morning?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Sheldon cocked his head.

“Well, I know how you can be when it comes to your routine and I know we’re not in our own universe so some things you said you wouldn’t mind forfeiting, but…” Penny rambled and let her sentence hang in the air as she gestured to the couch.

“Do _you_ feel strange that we slept together?” Sheldon said bluntly.

“Whoa! Don’t say it like _that_ ,” Penny held her hands up, “I just meant that I know you like your personal space and you know… you don’t like people _touching_ you, so I just thought you’d have something to say about the fact that I slept on you and probably got some drool on your shirt.”

“At first I was a little miffed, however none of your saliva actually soaked through either of my shirts and I discarded the soiled shirts into my doppelganger’s laundry basket along with your borrowed sleeping attire. There was no harm done except perhaps a sore neck,” Sheldon explained and rubbed at his neck.

“Oh,” Penny was genuinely taken aback. He didn’t even give her a strike. Sheldon sure has grown since she first met him. She filed away his growth for another day and decided to change the subject, “Sooo, whatcha working on there?”

“Trying to figure out that problem you posed yesterday,” Sheldon tapped the end of the marker at his chin as he turned back to the board, “Trying to figure out whether or not time is passing in our universe.”

“What’s the verdict?” Penny folded her arms and stared at all the symbols on the board that didn’t mean a thing to her, but meant the world to him.

“Depending on how strict your manager is at _The Cheesecake Factory_ , you may have to search for another job,” Sheldon said.

“Great,” Penny sighed, “Then time is passing, I take it?”

“If I’m correct… and I’m always correct,” Sheldon replied, “Time is moving in our universe in unison with this one. In other words, in our universe, we’ve been MIA since last night.”

“Perfect,” Penny sighed again and gave Sheldon an empathetic smile. He returned another one of his own.

S~*~P

_In the other universe…_

“Damn it,” Leonard ended the call on his phone with a violent stab of his thumb.

“What’d they say?” Amy asked, clearly worried. Bernadette, Howard, and Raj all mirrored her look.

“They said that they can’t declare them officially missing until they’ve been gone for forty-eight hours,” Leonard tossed his phone down on the coffee table and ran a tired hand over his face.

“That’s stupid,” Howard objected, “Did you mention how Sheldon’s a creature of habit and any deviation away from the norm is cause for alarm?”

“Yeah… didn’t help,” Leonard replied.

“Where could they possibly be?” Bernadette grabbed Howard’s hand as he gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Let’s go over what happened again,” Raj took control, putting down his beer.

“I got home at about seven thirty this morning after hanging out with you guys all night,” Leonard started, “And I thought I was going to have to face Sheldon’s wrath for not giving him notice for my late night out… and I came home to nothing.”

“Then you went over to Penny’s, right?” Amy wanted him to continue.

“Right,” Leonard nodded, “I went over and knocked on Penny’s door to see if she knew where Sheldon was or if Sheldon was even over there. He’s locked himself out of our apartment before. But then she didn’t answer. At that point, I was beyond worried so I grabbed my emergency key, went in Penny’s apartment and saw that nobody had been there either.”

“And then you called us to come over here,” Bernadette said.

There was silence for a moment before Howard went on, “I don’t think the University will mind if we’re not in today.”

“I already took care of that, I called us all in,” Raj waved his hand in a ‘don’t worry about it’ gesture.

“To make matters worse,” Amy added, “when we try calling them, it’s like their phones have been disconnected.”

“I’m getting really worried,” Bernadette squeezed her husband’s hand harder, “Where was the last place they could’ve been?”

“Good idea, we should retrace their steps,” Leonard said. Leave it to Bernadette to keep a cool head in a time of crisis.

“Last night was new comic book night,” Howard said, “And Penny picked him up from work. So the last place they must’ve been would be the comic book store.”

“Good thinking, let’s go,” Leonard grabbed his keys as everyone followed him out the door.

S~*~P

“Hey, guys,” Stuart greeted when he noticed his friends enter his store. Most of his friends, that is, “Where are Sheldon and Penny?”

“That’s what we want to know,” Leonard said, “Did Sheldon and Penny come here last night?”

“Yeah,” Stuart nodded.

“What’d they do?” Amy asked.

“Uh, Penny ordered a pizza while Sheldon was looking at the new issues,” Stuart said, “He bought a couple new comic books and a toy and then they left… What’s wrong?”

“They never came home last night,” Howard said.

“And their phones seem to be disconnected,” Raj added.

“Did anything unusual happen after they left? Was there any kind of commotion out front or something like somebody being kidnapped, perhaps?” Bernadette’s small voice went up as it filled with authority.

“No,” Stuart shook his head and then stopped, “Wait, there was some giant flash of light, but I just thought it was some jerk going by with their brights on.”

“Was it? Did you see?” Leonard got excited that they might’ve finally got a lead.

“Sorry, no,” Stuart apologized, “I didn’t think anything of it. There wasn’t any loud sounds or anything but the light.”

“That rules out there actually being a car or them being kidnapped by a car at that,” Amy sighed, “With Penny and Sheldon’s combined screams, they would’ve most definitely attracted some attention.”

“Is there anything I can do to try to help?” Stuart wondered, now worried about his friends, “Did you call the police?”

“Yeah, they said that they wouldn’t be officially missing until they’re gone for forty-eight hours,” Leonard repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know,” Stuart said.

“Will do,” Leonard nodded.

“Where could they possibly be?” Bernadette sighed and shared worried looks with all her friends.


	4. Chapter 3: Facebook and Games

“How much longer until the guys come back from work?” Penny asked, looking at her watch.

“Approximately five more hours if their schedule is the same as in our universe,” Sheldon sighed, looking at his watch and sat down in his spot.

“Did you want to watch _Serenity_ then?” Penny held the DVD case out, “We did finish the show last night before we… you know… fell asleep.”

“Perhaps we should wait until we return to our own universe,” Sheldon suggested, resting his chin in his hand as his elbow rested on the arm of the couch, “We started the marathon in our universe, it’s only logical we finish it there.”

“Okay,” Penny nodded and set the DVD down. She sat down next to him in her spot and started fiddling with her hands. She had no idea what to do with herself. She looked over to Sheldon, but he seemed lost in thought. Letting out a sigh, she sunk down on the couch.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Sheldon broke it, “Where do you suppose the deviation began in this universe?”

“I’m sorry?” Penny sat up a little.

“I was just thinking about where this universe started to deviate from ours in becoming a parallel world,” Sheldon said, “In theory, each decision we make creates a new parallel universe. So I was just thinking about where it split here.”

“I thought you said it was because I didn’t move in across the hall,” Penny was confused.

“Yes,” Sheldon nodded and turned to her, “But I was just thinking what exactly stopped your doppelganger from moving across the hall in this universe. Perhaps she didn’t break up with this universe’s Kurt or perhaps she didn’t want to be an actress and thus didn’t move to Pasadena to follow those dreams… or the Penny of this world might not even exist.”

“Wait, so are you saying I might not exist in this universe?” Penny sat straight up and turned completely facing Sheldon.

“Could be,” Sheldon shrugged.

“How would we find out?” Penny was genuinely interested now.

“We could try looking you up on the computer and see if you have any records,” Sheldon said.

“Yeah, do that,” Penny grabbed Sheldon’s arm and pulled him toward his doppelganger’s laptop sitting at the desk.

Sheldon gave her a side-glare for abruptly grabbing his arm, but didn’t say anything. He brought up the laptop and entered the correct password to unlock it, “I guess there are some constants throughout the universe.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Penny waved her hand, “See if I exist in this universe.”

“No need to nag, I’m looking,” Sheldon started his search. After a few seconds, they had their answer, “Looks like you do exist.”

“Scoot,” Penny nudged him to the side so she was now sitting in the chair and Sheldon stood next to her.

“I brought up her Facebook page,” Sheldon pointed, “Looks like she’s still in Nebraska.”

“And according to the most recent update to her relationship status, she _just_ broke up with Kurt,” Penny shook her head, “How could she deal with that for that long?”

“She must not be as smart as you,” Sheldon said.

“Thanks,” Penny gave him a small smile for the compliment he didn’t even realize he gave her. She turned her attention back to the computer screen, “Looks like not having the smarts to break up with Kurt was where this universe… uh…”

“Deviated,” Sheldon provided her the word she was searching for.

“Yeah, that,” Penny said, “Well, that and just not moving to Pasadena. I was still with Kurt when we moved. We had this long discussion about moving. He didn’t want to go, but in the end I convinced him. I’m grateful too because the move helped me see him as the asshole that he was.”

“So maybe that discussion you had with a mammoth of an ex-boyfriend was the exact moment that changed. Instead of persisting, you might’ve given up and then thus you stayed in Nebraska and stayed with him,” Sheldon theorized, “Well, I say “you” and you know I really mean…”

“I got it, Sheldon,” Penny stopped him. “It’s a lot easier than saying ‘your other self.’ I wonder if she’ll ever move out here and meet you guys.”

“Well, we can’t do anything about it and only time will tell,” Sheldon said, “We won’t be here to find out anyway… perhaps we should take a look at the transporter before Wolowitz, Koothrappali, and Leonard get back.”

“We don’t even know anything about it,” Penny shook her head, “And I’d rather wait and have it fixed right than have something happen and make it so we can never get home.”

“Point taken,” Sheldon sighed. “Would you be adverse to participate in a recreational activity to pass the time?”

“Huh?” Penny cocked her head.

“Would you maybe want to play a game of cards or something to pass the time?” Sheldon re-phrased his question.

“Oh, sure,” Penny nodded, “As long as it isn’t some weird nerd thing.”

He took a beat and then pursed his lips, “I guess I’ll have to find a normal deck of cards then.”

Penny turned her attention back to her doppelganger’s Facebook page. She shook her head. How could this universe’s Penny stay with Kurt for so long? Maybe Sheldon was right. Maybe she was just smarter than her doppelganger.

“I’ve got the cards,” Sheldon held them up, coming back into the room, “Any preferences?”

“How about ‘Go Fish’?” Penny suggested.

“I guess that is your speed,” Sheldon said and made to sit down in his spot, waiting for Penny to come and join him. When she didn’t, he looked up, “What?”

“Apologize,” Penny ordered.

“For what?” Sheldon didn’t understand what he did wrong.

“You just insulted me by saying that ‘Go Fish’ was my speed,” Penny had to spell it out for him.

“Well isn’t it?” Sheldon was confused.

“I do know other card games, Sheldon,” Penny said, “You know like: ‘Poker,’ ‘Old Maid,’ or ‘Texas Hold ‘Em.’ I just thought it’d be fun to play ‘Go Fish.’”

“Fine,” Sheldon conceded, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by my statement.”

Penny let out a sigh and walked over to join Sheldon, sitting down in Leonard’s usual chair, “I know… I’m sorry. I’m just a little cranky and frustrated that we’re stuck here.”

“Me too,” Sheldon said as he shuffled the cards. He started to deal the cards as he muttered, “And you’re probably on your cycle.”

“What was that?” Penny started to glare at him as she picked up her hand of cards.

“Do you have any twos?” Sheldon covered. Penny smirked at him. She heard what he really said and decided to let it go. After all, he was just being himself.

“Go fish,” Penny smiled.

S~*~P

Leonard, Raj, and Howard just gathered the tools they need to fix the transporter at Howard’s house. They were ready to head out when Mrs. Wolowitz yelled out to them, “What do you need those tools for again?!”

“I’m taking them to Leonard’s!” Howard yelled in response, “We need them to fix something!!”

“What for?! You building another fakakta robot?!” Mrs. Wolowitz yelled.

“No!” Howard replied.

“Well, don’t stay at your friends’ too late!! You’ve got school in the morning!!” Mrs. Wolowitz replied back.

“I don’t go to school, Ma!!! I work at a _University_!!! How many times do I have to tell you the same thing?!” Howard was getting exasperated. Raj and Leonard looked at each other awkwardly. It was always “interesting” listening to Howard’s conversations with his mother.

“That’s a school!! Now don’t stay out too late! You know how you are in the mornings!” Mrs. Wolowitz retorted.

“Yeah yeah,” Howard said to himself and looked to his friends, “Come on. Let’s get out of here and get Sheldon and Penny back home.”

As they walked out of the house they could hear Mrs. Wolowitz yell one more thing, “Howard!!! Don’t forget to lock the door!! I don’t need any home invasions!!”

“Nobody’d want to break in here, Ma!!! I’m locking it!!” Howard locked the door. He motioned with his head to Leonard and Raj to move ahead and then followed them off the porch.

“Do you really think that we’ll be able to fix the transporter and get them back home?” Raj asked as they headed to Leonard’s car.

“We have to hope,” Howard shrugged, “Otherwise they’re stuck here.”

S~*~P

Raj, Howard, and Leonard entered the apartment to find Penny and Sheldon playing _Age of Conan_. Sheldon was on his doppelganger’s laptop and Penny was playing on Leonard’s laptop.

“Sheldon, I need you on my flank!” Penny ordered as she punched keys on the laptop.

“I am! I am!” Sheldon yelled as he mirrored her actions.

“Hello?” Leonard greeted them, but they either didn’t hear him or were ignoring him because they kept on playing.

“Damn it!!” Penny was furiously punching away at the laptop. After a few moments, it appeared that they were victorious in their game as Penny and Sheldon let out a synchronous, “Yes!”

Penny dropped her headset from her ears when she finally noticed the boys standing open-mouthed, staring at them. “Hey. When’d you guys get in?”

“You play _Age of Conan_ too?” Howard couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This beautiful shiksah blonde goddess had an inner nerd and she was nerding-out with _Sheldon Cooper_ of all people.

“Yeah,” Penny nodded, “Sheldon got me into it a couple years ago.”

“She’s managed her addiction since then,” Sheldon said.

“Right… well, we’ve got the tools,” Howard held them up.

“Excellent!” Penny smiled, “Let’s get to work…”


	5. Chapter 4: Contact

_In the other universe…_

“I was hoping we’d get a lead. This was the last place they were,” Bernadette sighed.

“It was a valid hypothesis,” Leonard patted her on the back.

“And you didn’t have to buy something, Howard,” Bernadette turned to her husband.

“Hey, when my people worry, they either shop or eat,” Howard defended himself, “Plus, I couldn’t pass this up. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve always wanted a replica of the Phantom Zone transport device from the Superman cartoon.”

They started heading back to Leonard’s car. They had managed to squeeze everybody in.

On the way back to the car, Amy stopped everyone, “Hey, isn’t that Penny’s car over there?”

“It is,” Leonard ran over and everyone followed him.

“It doesn’t appear to be broken into,” Amy looked through the windows.

“Penny’s coffee is still in there,” Howard observed. He tried the door and it was unlocked, “A little irresponsible of her to leave the car door unlocked.”

“Don’t complain, this is the first real lead we have,” Leonard opened the door all the way and climbed in, “Everything looks to be in order.”

“How can you tell?” Raj asked, “Penny really needs to learn to organize her things.”

“Sheldon’s been trying to do that for years,” Leonard commented.

“Coffee’s cold,” Amy stated as Leonard handed the cup to her.

“It doesn’t look like they ever got back to her car,” Bernadette was getting increasingly more worried.

“Maybe they took a cab or something,” Amy tried.

“Sheldon doesn’t take cabs,” Leonard shook his head as he got back out of the car.

“Yes he does,” Bernadette argued, “He went with us girls a little while back.”

“Whatever,” Howard shook his head, “If they took a cab, then why didn’t they take it home?”

“Maybe it was in an accident?” Raj shrugged.

“You’re not helping calm me, Raj,” Bernadette’s voice went up.

“Sorry,” Raj apologized.

“Since they’re not answering their phones…” Leonard started.

“You mean since they sound like they’re disconnected,” Amy corrected him, “There’s a difference.”

“Still not helping,” Bernadette said.

Amy gave her an apologetic smile and Leonard continued his thought, “Uh, what I was trying to say was, and I know I’m not helping either, Bernadette. I’m sorry, but do you think we should try the hospital?”

“Maybe that’d get the police to do something,” Howard said.

“Let’s go,” Leonard led everybody back to his car.

S~*~P

_An hour and a half later…_

“Nothing,” Leonard shut the door to his apartment after everybody went in before him.

“Shouldn’t we be relieved they weren’t there?” Amy pointed out.

“Yes, but now we’re back to square one,” Leonard flopped in his chair. Amy took a seat on the couch on the opposite end of Sheldon’s spot. Bernadette, Raj, and Howard looked at the two empty spots on the couch. None of them dared take a seat in Penny and Sheldon’s spots. It didn’t seem right somehow. Raj took a seat on the floor while Howard and Bernadette grabbed some chairs.

“Maybe we should take our minds off of them for a little bit,” Howard suggested, “We can check out my new toy.”

Howard set it on the table and pressed a button. It projected an image of the apartment on the wall opposite of where they were sitting.

“Cool,” Raj said, sipping another beer. He wanted to be able to keep talking in front of Amy and Bernadette. His previous buzz was starting to wear off. He was going to have such a headache later, but it’d be worth it if he could theorize with his friends and get Penny and Sheldon back.

“Wait,” Amy stopped and pointed to the wall, “What was that? I thought I saw Sheldon walk by.”

“What?” Leonard looked at the wall and sure enough, they saw Sheldon walk by on the projected image of their apartment.

“That doesn’t make any sense, how is it doing that?” Bernadette went up to her husband’s toy and pressed another button.

_“Do you think it needs more time to warm up?” They could hear Sheldon’s voice coming from the toy._

_“I don’t know,” Penny’s voice answered him, “Maybe.”_

“Those are Sheldon and Penny’s voices,” Amy joined Bernadette on the floor next to the toy. “How is that possible?”

S~*~P

_A couple minutes previously and in the parallel universe…_

“You think it’s working yet?” Sheldon asked.

“I don’t know, Sheldon,” Howard replied shortly as he continued working on the toy. “And FYI, my answer isn’t going to change in two seconds.”

“Well, at least everything’s put back together,” Raj pointed out, “He tightened all the screws.”

“As long as that gets us home, that’s fine,” Penny said.

“Hey, if we press the button that transported you here, would it send us to your universe with you?” Raj brought up a good point.

“Hmm,” Sheldon started, “That’s a very good question.”

“Oh great, you got him started again,” Penny rolled her eyes. Raj gave her an apologetic look.

“But it is a good question, Penny,” Sheldon insisted, “If we’re all sent back to our universe, who says we’d be able to get them back here?”

“So, to avoid that, maybe we should just be the only ones in the room so that doesn’t happen,” Penny stated the obvious.

“Good idea,” Howard nodded as he stood up. “Okay, so everything’s all screwed back together as Raj pointed out. Did you two want to try it? See if it works?”

“Maybe we should give it a few minutes to warm up,” Penny suggested.

“Perhaps,” Sheldon nodded.

“How about we stay in the other room for a little bit?” Leonard suggested, “Just in case it works and you guys get back to your own universe. We’ll stay out of your way for a certain amount of time and we’ll come back and either you’ll be gone or we’ll still have work to do.”

“Sounds good to me,” Howard agreed.

“I vote instead of the other room, we go down to the comic book store,” Raj said.

“Sounds good to me,” Howard agreed.

“Okay, we’ll stay gone for…,” Leonard looked at his watch, “at least a half hour, give or take, with the time to get to and back from the comic book store.”

“See you later,” Raj waved as they started toward the door.

“No offense, Raj, but I hope not,” Penny said.

“Good luck,” Leonard smiled as he closed the door leaving Sheldon and Penny in the apartment alone together.

“How long should we give it to warm up?” Penny asked.

“Since I’ve never encountered this type of situation before, there really is no set time to go by,” Sheldon answered.

“So five minutes?” Penny asked.

“I suppose so,” Sheldon said. For the next couple of minutes, Sheldon and Penny sat in comfortable silence on the couch in their spots, staring at the transporter toy.

“I’m going to make us something to drink,” Penny got up, “You want any tea?”

“I am in no need of comfort, but I wouldn’t be adverse to a cup of tea,” Sheldon said.

“I’ll just take that as a yes,” Penny started to heat up some water.

Sheldon got up to join her in the kitchen, walking past the toy, “Do you think it needs more time to warm up?”

“I don’t know,” Penny answered, “Maybe.”

_“Sheldon? Penny?”_

Penny and Sheldon turned their heads when they heard Leonard’s voice come from the living room.

“Leonard?” Penny went to the door, “You guys back already?”

_“Penny!” They heard Leonard’s voice again. The tone in his voice sounded excited and relieved at the same time._

“Penny,” Sheldon brought her attention to him, “It sounded like his voice was coming from the toy.”

Penny hurried over to Sheldon by the couch and sat down next to him. Sheldon turned the toy at a different angle. He looked to Penny as if to gather some strength from her gaze. At her nod, he pressed a button. An image of the apartment projected on the wall opposite of where they were sitting; and they could see Leonard, Raj, Howard, Amy, and Bernadette all huddled around something, staring back at them.

_“How are you guys in there?” Raj asked._

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Penny couldn’t believe her eyes.

_“Where the hell are you guys? We’ve been worried sick!” Leonard scolded them._

Sheldon and Penny looked to each other and then back at the image. Sheldon spoke, “As hard as this is to believe, Penny and I have landed in a parallel universe. It appears that we can communicate through the transporter toy. You must’ve purchased one that is on the same frequency or wavelength as mine.”

_“Parallel universe?” Amy raised an eyebrow._

_Bernadette turned to Amy, “You got a better explanation as to how we’re talking to them through a toy?”_

_“None springs to mind,” Amy shook her head._

_“How did you two end up in a parallel universe? We’ve been trying to figure out what happened to you all day,” Howard said._

“Sheldon bought this Superman toy thing-y last night and pressed the ‘try me’ button. Next thing we know, we’re in a parallel universe,” Penny explained.

“That’s not true,” Sheldon objected, “It wasn’t ‘the next thing we knew.’ We didn’t realize we were in another universe until we were back here and this universe’s Leonard, Koothrappali and Wolowitz didn’t recognize you.”

“Whatever,” Penny’s eyes widened, annoyed. She looked back to her friends in the projected image, “Do you guys think if we press the button again, we’ll get back?”

_“Doesn’t hurt to try,” Leonard replied._

Penny and Sheldon locked gazes. To Penny’s surprise, Sheldon grasped Penny’s hand, out of the view of their friends. She gave him a small smile and he slowly but surely returned it. He took a deep breath and pressed the ‘try me’ button once again.


	6. Chapter 5: A Night Out

_“Did you do anything?” Bernadette asked._

“It didn’t work,” Sheldon sighed.

_“Don’t give up,” Leonard said, “At least we can communicate and we know that you two are safe. That’s what matters.”_

_“And now we have an explanation as to why it appeared that your phones were disconnected,” Amy said. “It’s because you two are in another universe.”_

“Why didn’t it work?” Penny wondered, getting them back on subject.

“Maybe it still needs some time to warm up or perhaps no warm up time is needed at all,” Sheldon theorized, “As I said before, we really don’t have any previous data to go off of to return home.”

_“Do you think if we sever this conversation we’ll be able to connect to communicate again?” Amy asked._

_“I don’t know if we should risk it,” Bernadette said, “We got this far.”_

_“I still can’t believe that this is happening,” Howard shook his head._

_“After all of our comic book stuff, this sort of thing was bound to happen,” Raj stated._

“We could just keep the line open if we’re afraid we won’t be able to connect to you guys again,” Penny suggested.

“Unless this is draining the power,” Sheldon said, “If that’s the case, then I strongly oppose ‘keeping the line open’ as you’ve suggested.”

“Well, there’s no way of finding out, is there, Sheldon?” Penny argued.

_“Maybe we should, uh, “hang up”,” Leonard was agreeing with Sheldon. Bernadette and Raj gave a noise of objection._

_“Guys, I don’t want to risk this conversation thing we’re having in draining the power of the toys,” Leonard tried to explain. “Somehow the one Howard bought and the one Sheldon bought are connected. I don’t want to risk any chance of them getting stuck over there forever. At least we know where they are now.”_

“Agreed,” Sheldon said, “I can do a little more research on traveling through parallel universes and you can do the same. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”

_“A little more?” Howard asked, “You mean you’ve researched it before?”_

“Yes,” Sheldon nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Hasn’t everybody?”

_“One thing though,” Leonard stopped Sheldon from severing the connection, “We should leave both of our transporters on, don’t turn anything off. We don’t want to run the risk of losing the connection.”_

“But wouldn’t that drain the power on the toy too?” Penny pointed out the obvious.

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Sheldon said, “I never thought I’d ever say this in my life, but Leonard’s right.”

All their friends, including Penny, widened their eyes at that. Sheldon continued, “If we sever the connection that the two transporters seem to have, we might never get back to our universe.”

_“We’ll keep our fingers crossed we’ll see you two soon,” Bernadette smiled._

“Us too,” Penny smiled right back.

“Sheldon and Penny out,” Sheldon did the Vulcan salute before pressing the same button that projected the image. After giving it a moment, they didn’t hear or see anything more from their friends. The tea kettle whistled. They had both completely forgotten about it.

“The more and more we stay here, the more and more I’m afraid we’re not going to make it back home,” Penny voiced her fears as she got up to pour herself and Sheldon a cup of tea.

“We’ll make it home, Penny,” Sheldon assured her, “If there’s one thing I have faith in, it’s science. Science got us here and science will get us home.”

Slowly the apartment door opened and Leonard poked his head in. He opened the door all the way, “I see you guys didn’t have any luck.”

“Not yet,” Penny shook her head. Turning, she put the kettle back on the stovetop, took their cups of tea and headed into the living room to join her friends.

“Not entirely true,” Sheldon remarked. He gave a nod of acceptance at Penny as she handed him the tea. Penny was taken aback when Sheldon didn’t grill her about his specifications to how the tea was prepared. She shrugged it off and counted her blessings.

Sheldon continued, completely unaware of Penny’s musings, “We had contact with your doppelgangers from our universe as well as Bernadette and Amy.”

“Bernadette and Amy?” Howard was confused.

“Bernadette is apparently your wife over there and Amy is Sheldon’s ex-girlfriend,” Leonard explained. “I forgot to tell you guys about that at work.”

“Wow… I have a wife?” Howard was stunned.

“And you’re damn lucky to have her,” Penny nodded.

“Okay, Howard having a wife isn’t as far out there as the fact that _Sheldon Cooper_ has an ex-girlfriend? That implies that he had a girlfriend,” Raj found that harder to believe.

“Not important right now, Raj,” Leonard stopped him from going on. “You had contact with your universe? That’s good, right?”

“Yes and no,” Sheldon said and after a beat, continued in his ‘jibber-jabber’ mode, “Yes it’s good because we have a connection to our universe and no because it doesn’t get us home. We decided not to turn off either of our transporters in fear of severing the connection. Basically, we have a specific time window to get back home… if either of our toys die, the connection could be broken.”

“Surely those batteries are strong enough to not die that quickly,” Raj tried to reason, “They’re _Duracell_.”

“There’s no way in telling how much power it actually takes for all this universe hopping,” Sheldon remarked, “It shouldn’t even be possible according to the Doctor.”

“Doctor Who?” Penny asked.

“Exactly,” Sheldon nodded.

“You know, you’re not making me feel any better about getting home, Sheldon,” Penny sighed.

“Just stating the facts, Penny,” Sheldon said, “But like I told you, I have faith in science that we’ll get home.”

“Should we try any other fixes on the toy?” Howard asked.

“Clearly it’s working,” Sheldon replied, “Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to talk to our friends from our universe. We just have to figure out how and why we didn’t get transported back during our conversation.”

“Anything else we can do to try and help?” Raj asked.

“Maybe you can help Sheldon research on traveling through universes?” Penny asked.

“He’ll do no such thing,” Sheldon protested, “I can handle it myself.”

“Or maybe we should just try to take our minds off the situation entirely,” Leonard proposed.

“How?” Penny’s interest was piqued.

“We could just go out to dinner or something,” Leonard tried.

“That’d be nice,” Penny turned to Sheldon. “We could go to the _Cheesecake Factory_. It’d be nice to finally just eat there instead of waiting on tables.”

“We can’t go there, Penny. It’s not Tuesday,” Sheldon shook his head.

“Can’t you forget about that? Or is that one of your routines you refuse to give up?” Penny folded her arms.

“Actually I was asking if just y-you and me could go to dinner,” Leonard clarified.

“Why would you and Penny go out to dinner together, Leonard?” Sheldon furrowed his brows, “You two are not in the same situation in needing to get back home. You don’t need to get your mind off of the situation. _We_ do.”

“Nothing, never mind,” Leonard shook his head.

“But you actually bring up a good idea, Leonard,” Sheldon pursed his lips, “Something that’s been happening a lot in both universes lately. That’s a bit unsettling… Anyway, if we did ‘go out to dinner or something’ like you suggested, that _would_ allow my prefrontal cortex to work on our problem of getting back home in the background while my basal ganglia will be focused on something as menial as going out to dinner.”

“Was that Sheldon’s way of asking Penny to go to dinner?” Raj whispered to Howard.

“I guess so,” Howard shrugged.

“That sounds familiar,” Penny lit up as if she were hit with an epiphany, “Didn’t you do that when you were stuck?”

“I did,” Sheldon nodded, “ _Very_ good, Penny.”

“Okay, could you say that and not make it sound like I’m a dog who learned how to use the toilet?” Penny folded her arms.

“No, but point taken,” Sheldon said.

“Let’s go,” Penny nodded to the door. She turned to Leonard and patted him on the cheek with a smile as she walked past him, “Thanks for the suggestion, Leonard.”

She started pushing Sheldon out the door much to his objections. She just kept pushing until they were both out the door and the rest of the boys were standing there in a shocked stupor.

“Well that was weird,” Raj voiced everybody’s thoughts.

“Tell me about it,” Howard agreed.

“You guys just want to order another pizza?” Leonard accepted defeat with a shrug.

“Or we could go to _P.F. Chang’s_ ,” Howard said, “My mom has coupons.”

“Sounds good to me,” Raj nodded and they all headed out. Leonard added as an afterthought, “Just as long as she doesn’t come along.”

“Not this time, I promise,” Howard said as he closed the apartment door.

S~*~P

“It’s so nice to actually sit and eat here instead of waiting on tables,” Penny smiled as she opened up a menu. She convinced him to go to _The Cheesecake Factory_. How she did it, she’ll never know, but she knew better than to question miracles.

“Yes,” Sheldon was looking at his menu and added under his breath, “Though sometimes you barely do wait on tables.”

“What was that?” Penny put her menu down.

“Nothing,” Sheldon shook his head. He knew better than to get her upset. He just couldn’t help himself.

Penny decided to let it go, “So, you getting your usual?”

“I can’t get my usual,” Sheldon shook his head, continuing to look at the menu. He had that condescending tone in his voice, “It is not Tuesday night, therefore it is not usual for me to be here, and to say I’d be getting ‘my usual’ would not make sense.”

“You could’ve just said ‘no,’” Penny mumbled. _This **was** a good idea._

“Perhaps I can order grilled cheese,” Sheldon said, “If I’ve abandoned all structure tonight, I might as well.”

“Are your routines that necessary, Sheldon?” Penny asked, “I remember how off your rocker you went when you couldn’t get your haircut on time… I remember your bongos too well.”

“If we don’t have any structure to our lives, then we just live in pure chaos,” Sheldon replied.

“But how can you have any fun if you plan every second of your life?” Penny countered.

“I don’t plan every second of my life,” Sheldon shook his head, “There are some things out of my control… such as when the Nobel Prize committee will recognize me.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, Sheldon,” Penny gave up and looked back to the menu.

“I don’t do well with change, Penny,” Sheldon confided in her, “I like things to remain the same.”

“Change is a part of life, Sheldon,” Penny told him, putting her menu down. That grilled cheese sounded good. “Your life changed when I came into it, didn’t it?”

Before Sheldon could answer, the waitress came up to them, “Can I take your order?”

“Bernadette?” Penny turned to the familiar face.

“Yes, that’s what it says on my nametag. I’m your server this evening,” Bernadette pointed to her nametag. “What can I get you two tonight?”

“Uh, um,” Penny stammered. She wasn’t expecting to see Bernadette’s doppelganger when she decided to come here to eat. It didn’t even cross her mind.

“I’ll have a grilled cheese sandwich,” Sheldon covered her odd behavior. “I will have it on white bread, lightly grilled and only two slices of American cheese… oh and no pickles.”

Penny cleared her throat, “Ditto, but pickles are fine… and it doesn’t matter how many slices of cheese you give me.”

“Right, it’ll be right up,” Bernadette wrote down their order. As she walked away she muttered to herself, “Such a perfect couple for each other.”

“I can’t believe Bernadette is here,” Penny watched her leave.

“Why should that you surprise you?” Sheldon asked, “She worked at our _Cheesecake Factory_. Why wouldn’t she work at this one to get herself through school to become a microbiologist?”

“It just took me by surprise, Sheldon,” Penny took a sip from her water.

“Is this a date?” Sheldon asked innocently.

Penny spit out her water and coughed a little. Patting her chest, she caught her breath, “I’m sorry?”

“Is this a date?” Sheldon repeated.

“No,” Penny shook her head, “What makes you think that this is a date?”

“How you turned down going out with Leonard and then pushed me out the door, for one,” Sheldon said.

“And that makes this a date?” Penny leaned forward, “What about you basically flat-out telling Leonard that I wasn’t going to go with him? It was like you were staking claim.”

“I was doing no such thing,” Sheldon argued.

“Okay,” Penny held up her hands, “Whatever you say.”

“And going back to what you said before, about my life changing when you came into it, I agree,” Sheldon was not so obviously changing the subject before they could argue about it anymore.

“And?” Penny prompted him to keep talking.

“And what? I was just saying I’m agreeing with you,” Sheldon replied. “My life changed when you came into it a little over five years ago.”

Next thing they knew, Bernadette came over with their orders, refilled their waters and walked away. Sheldon and Penny sat in a comfortable silence for a moment. Penny decided to dig in whereas Sheldon looked like he was fighting with himself to say something.

“You okay, sweetie?” Penny looked concerned.

“It was a good change,” Sheldon said barely above a whisper.

“Speak up, honey, I couldn’t hear you,” Penny lowered her sandwich.

“I said it was a good change,” Sheldon repeated a little louder, “Yes, your coming into my life was change and I was totally against it at the start.”

“Gee thanks,” Penny deadpanned.

Sheldon held his hand up, “Hold on a moment, I’m not finished. This has been bugging me for quite some time now and I feel like now when I’ve abandoned most of my routines, it might be a proper time to get it off my chest.”

Penny could tell he was serious. She bit her lip and reached out to grab his hand. Instead of freezing and pulling away like she expected, he seemed to draw strength from it.

“In the start, I didn’t like the change, but I’ve found that even through your community college education, which I was proud of you for trying, by the way, you challenge me,” Sheldon said.

Penny tilted her head in interest.

“Not academically, _obviously_ , but in other ways,” Sheldon continued. It was like he couldn’t stop. The human side of him grabbed hold and wasn’t going away. “You challenge my character. Where Leonard, Wolowitz, and Koothrappali just knuckle under, you keep me on my toes… and I find that it actually makes my brain work harder. And for that… I thank you.”

Penny smiled. This was her Dr. Whack-a-Doodle’s way of saying that he appreciated her and liked her in his life.

“Aww, I love you too, honey,” Penny patted his hand and went back to her sandwich.

“That wasn’t what I said,” Sheldon’s Texas twang came out a bit, “Honestly, Penny weren’t you listening?”

“I was listening just fine, sweetie,” Penny smiled, “Now eat your dinner.”

“You really need to work on your listening skills, Penny,” Sheldon shook his head. He placed the napkin on his lap and began eating. After a moment of eating in silence, Penny spotted a small smile creep on his face… and not just his Koala bear smile. A true Sheldon Cooper smile.


	7. Chapter 6: Sleep and an Epiphany

“Your prefrontal cortex come up with anything?” Leonard asked when Penny and Sheldon came back. It looked like the boys decided to get a carry out from _P.F. Chang’s_ instead of eating at the restaurant.

“Not yet,” Sheldon walked over and sat down in his spot, “But thank you for occupying my basal ganglia with such a menial task as answering that question.”

“You’re welcome?” Leonard wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Same old Sheldon,” Howard commented.

“Why would’ve I changed just by going out to dinner with Penny?” Sheldon wasn’t following.

“Nothing,” Howard shook his head and went back to his food.

Raj whispered into Howard’s ear and Howard repeated what Raj said, “Raj wants me to tell you that he’s starting to feel an effect of that alcohol so he stopped drinking for tonight. And he apologies, Penny.”

“Oh, that’s okay, sweetie,” Penny patted Raj’s back. “I can’t expect you to be drunk 24/7.”

Penny turned to Howard, “You should go and eat at the _Cheesecake Factory_ some time.”

“Why?” Howard furrowed his brows.

“No reason,” Penny shook her head, smiling at the in-joke.

Raj whispered in Leonard’s ear and he shrugged, “Sure, why not?”

“What’d he ask?” Howard wondered.

“He was asking if he could crash on our couch tonight. He’s not up to driving home in his condition,” Leonard said.

“He’ll do no such thing,” Sheldon objected.

“What’s the problem?” Leonard furrowed his brows.

“If he ‘crashes’ on the couch tonight, where is Penny supposed to sleep?” Sheldon used air quotes.

“I could give him a ride home if he lets me drive his car and crash at his place for the night,” Howard offered.

Raj started to nod, but Leonard interjected, “Wait a minute. I said he could stay here, Sheldon. Technically, you don’t even live here. You’re not in your universe, so what I say here goes.”

“Sheldon, it really is no big deal,” Penny shook her head. “If I have to, I’ll just sleep on the floor.”

“That’s not acceptable, Penny, you’re a guest in our home,” Sheldon said, “No matter what Leonard says, I’m Dr. Sheldon Cooper and according to the lease agreement, I live here… and according to the roommate agreement, I get the last word on matters like this.”

“It’s not applicable here, Sheldon,” Leonard stood up, “You’re not our Sheldon, therefore the lease _and_ the roommate agreement don’t apply to you.” _Why didn’t I think of that before when he was bothering me about the roommate agreement?_

“Honey, if Raj needs to sleep on the couch, then Raj will sleep on the couch,” Penny walked up and put her hands in the air, separating Sheldon and Leonard, “I’m okay with sleeping on the floor.”

“Fine, but I’m not happy about it,” Sheldon remarked. He looked at his watch, “Speaking of which, it’s bedtime, Wolowitz, show yourself out.”

Sheldon walked away, heading toward his bedroom. Howard stared after him with his mouth hanging open, holding food up to it. He closed it and put the food back in his container. Standing up, he commented, “I was _so_ looking forward to that Sheldon-free time. No offense, Penny, but the sooner you two get back home the better.”

“None taken,” Penny agreed.

S~*~P

Time passed and the entire apartment of 4A was fast asleep except for one girl tossing and turning in a sleeping bag Leonard offered her on the floor. She had changed in to yet another one of Sheldon’s shirts for her sleeping attire and stole one of his boxers to wear over her own underwear without him knowing. They were comfortable. So sue her.

She stared up at the ceiling and whispered to herself, “I said I could handle sleeping on the floor and I meant it.”

After a few more minutes of not being able to fall asleep, she slapped her hands on her sides in frustration and got up to go to the kitchen. Quietly, she got the necessities to get herself a cup of water and a little ‘midnight’ snack.

“Penny?” Sheldon tapped her on her shoulder. She let out a startled scream and turned to face her tall, lanky physicist.

“Sheldon!” Penny whispered harshly, “You about gave me a heart attack. I thought you were sleeping.”

She looked over to Raj on the couch. He was still asleep.

“You affected my REM sleep,” Sheldon countered.

“How did I do that?” Penny humored him. It was way too early/late to deal with his craziness.

“You had me worrying about you sleeping on the floor,” Sheldon stated.

“I can sleep on the floor, Sheldon, I’m fine with it. I told you,” Penny replied and took her sip of water.

“Clearly not, you’re standing here talking to me instead of sleeping,” Sheldon argued.

“ _You_ were worrying about me sleeping on the floor?” Penny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This jaunt through universes was maturing him a little. And it seemed for the better.

“I propose a one-time only deal,” Sheldon held up one finger.

Penny folded her arms, “Are you suggesting you and I sleep in the same bed, Dracula?”

“I was going to propose that you sleep in my bed and I’d sleep on the floor, but your idea sounds more comfortable for my back,” Sheldon rubbed at his back. He paused for a moment and then looked as though a thought just hit him. “And just what are you implying by calling me Dracula?”

“Nothing. I’m too tired to argue,” Penny walked by him and headed for his room.

“So was that a yes?” Sheldon stood there for a moment and then followed her. By the time he reached his room, she was already snuggled up on the right side of his bed, under his covers. “I hope she doesn’t hog the covers… or snore. What on Earth possessed me to even ask her? I must be coming down with something.”

Slowly, he got into his bed on the other side. He looked over to Penny. She must’ve fallen asleep on contact with his pillow. _Handle sleeping on the floor, my sweet patootie._ Sheldon let out a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He could feel himself start to fall asleep when he felt something strewn across his chest. Opening his eyes, once again, he looked down to see Penny’s arm. She was starting to snuggle closer into him. Licking his lips, he fought with himself for a moment and then tapped Penny on the arm. He whispered, “Penny?”

She let out a groan and snuggled even closer into Sheldon. She was now almost completely draped over him. Slowly, he wrestled one of his arms out from under her and held it up in the air awkwardly. He looked uncomfortable and didn’t know where to put his arm. Tentatively he let it rest on Penny’s back. They were mirroring their position from the other night on the couch, but this time, they were lying down in bed.

“I guess this could be worse,” Sheldon whispered to himself. “She could be snoring.”

She let out a small snore and he glared at her, “That wasn’t a challenge.”

“Might as well try to get _some_ sleep,” Sheldon was talking to himself. Penny was really out. “She better not get any saliva on me this time.”

Time passed and both occupants of Dr. Sheldon Cooper’s bedroom were fast asleep. After a moment, Penny groaned a little and started to stretch a little. She felt something on her back. Opening her eyes, she noticed her most comfortable pillow was once again Sheldon’s chest. And the thing on her back was Sheldon’s arm.

“Not again,” Penny sighed. “I hope he doesn’t kill me.”

Gradually, she tried sliding out of their position without waking him. Just as she was about out he sat up quickly shouting, “Eureka!”

Penny let out a scream and held her hand to her chest. Sheldon turned to her, eyes wide with a huge smile on his face, “Eureka, Penny!”

“What? What is it?” Penny still held her hand on her chest, trying to calm herself down.

“I had an epiphany in my sleep on how to get back to our universe,” Sheldon declared. He was so overcome with happiness; he grabbed Penny in another bear-hug and jumped out of bed. “Come on, Sleeping Beauty, we’ve got to get back home!”

Penny sat there in shock. She shook her head and slid out of Sheldon’s bed, “Holy crap on a cracker.”

S~*~P

“What’s wrong?” Leonard was tying his robe as he entered the living room. Sheldon was already kneeled by the transporter toy. Raj sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“I’ve figured out how to get back to our universe,” Sheldon had the biggest smile on his face.

“Really? That’s fantastic,” Leonard looked genuinely happy.

“How?” Penny joined them in the living room.

“I was thinking about the differences in this universe and the constants,” Sheldon started to explain.

“You mean like how our Penny never moved across the hall?” Leonard wondered.

“Mostly, yes, but I mainly focused on the consistencies,” Sheldon said.

Raj whispered into Leonard’s ear and he translated, “Yeah, like what?”

“Penny,” Sheldon simply said as he continued to fiddle with the transporter.

“What about me?” Penny folded her arms across Sheldon’s blue Superman shirt. It was swimming on her, but it was comfortable. Leonard and Raj didn’t bother to comment on her sleeping attire.

“Your actions have been consistent in both universes,” Sheldon said, “You haven’t changed the way you act around me while we’ve been here.”

“Why would I?” Penny shrugged.

“You wouldn’t… you’re the one constant I can count on through both of these parallel universes,” Sheldon said. Penny smiled at yet another compliment he didn’t even realize he gave her, “And that got me to thinking about our universe and the transporters connections.”

“Go on,” Leonard motioned him.

“We have to press the buttons on the transporters at the same time to return home,” Sheldon stated.

“How are we going to get them to do that?” Penny kneeled down next to him.

“We have to contact them again, hope the batteries haven’t died on either transporter, tell them to time pressing the same button at the exact same time as us, and hope that the batteries don’t die in the process of returning home,” Sheldon listed.

“Right,” Penny looked nervous.

“Penny,” Leonard came up to Penny. He tapped her on the shoulder and she stood up, facing him.

“Yes, Leonard?” Penny asked.

“It was wonderful meeting you. I hope that someday the Penny of this universe will move here and we can become as good friends as you are with your Leonard,” Leonard smiled. He held out his hand for her to shake.

She gave him a hug instead, “Me too.”

Penny moved over and gave Raj a hug too. Raj looked like he was in a stunned stupor, but returned the hug with a smile. He patted her on the back and when they parted, he gave her a thumbs-up to echo what Leonard had said.

“Come on, Raj, let’s give Penny and Sheldon room to return home,” Leonard motioned Raj to go out the door, “We don’t want to risk going with them.”

He turned around before closing the apartment door, “We’ll tell Howard goodbye for you.”

“Bye, guys,” Penny smiled. Leonard and Raj nodded at her as Leonard closed the door. She returned to Sheldon’s side.

“Let’s go home,” Sheldon pressed the button to contact their friends once again.


	8. Epilogue: Home

The image of the apartment projected on the screen once again. In view of the transporter, Sheldon and Penny could see Bernadette and Howard sleeping on the couch on the opposite side of Sheldon’s spot.

_“Wolowitz!” Sheldon yelled, jerking the engineer awake and in effect, waking up his wife._

“Sheldon?” Howard rubbed his eyes at the sound of the physicist’s voice.

_“No, it’s the Boogie-Man,” Sheldon replied, sarcastically, “Of course it’s me. I figured out how to get back home, now press the button so we can both have visual.”_

“Everybody, get up,” Bernadette moved out of view, seemingly waking up the rest of their friends. The whole gang must’ve spent the night at the guys’ apartment out of worry and concern for their friends across the universe. “Sheldon’s figured out how to get him and Penny back home.”

“I knew if anybody could to it, it’d be him,” Leonard moved into view. Raj and Amy also came into view, joining Bernadette and Howard. Leonard pressed the button so they could have visual with Penny and Sheldon and just like that, they came into view.

_“Hi, guys,” Penny waved with a huge smile plastered on her face._

_“Penny, please, we don’t have time for pleasantries. You can wave all you want when we’re back. We don’t know how much power we’re using,” Sheldon chided._

_“Sorry,” Penny apologized._

“How do we get you guys back home?” Howard asked.

_“We have to press the ‘try me’ button I pressed initially at the exact same time as each other,” Sheldon explained._

“How do we know which one that is?” Leonard asked, looking at all the buttons.

_“It says ‘try me’ on it,” Sheldon deadpanned, “Honestly, Leonard…”_

“That is not what I meant, Sheldon,” Leonard replied, “There are a few ‘try me’ buttons on here.”

_“Oh,” Sheldon stopped and looked down, “The blue one.”_

“Thank you,” Leonard said, “I’ll do it.”

“Do you think this is actually going to work?” Amy asked, kneeling down next to Leonard.

_“We can hope,” Penny answered._

_“It will work, Penny,” Sheldon assured her. He grabbed Penny’s hand, this time, in complete view of all their friends. He looked back to everybody and said, “Leonard, on the count of three, we press the blue ‘try me’ button, got it?”_

“Got it,” Leonard nodded, finger at the ready.

“One… Two…” Sheldon, Penny, and Leonard counted in unison. “Three!”

Leonard and Sheldon pressed the button at the exact same moment. A bright light surrounded Sheldon and Penny and in the next second, that same light flashed in front of Leonard’s eyes. After it subsided, Penny and Sheldon were sitting right in front of him with their transporter in front of Howard’s, their hands still clasped and their eyes closed.

“Welcome back, you two,” Bernadette smiled. She squealed, ran around the table and enveloped them both in a hug, much to Sheldon’s protests.

“We’re back!” Penny ran around and started hugging everyone.

“I’d suggest, as much as it pains me, we should destroy these toys so this doesn’t happen again,” Sheldon proposed, “And then tell Stuart to take them off the shelves so this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

“Sounds like a sound plan,” Howard nodded.

“Penny?” Leonard started as Penny got out of her hug with her bestie Amy.

“Yeah?” Penny turned to him.

“Why are you wearing one of Sheldon’s Superman shirts?” Leonard pointed.

She looked down and realized she was still in her parallel universe sleeping attire, “Oops.”

“Looks like my doppelganger is going to be missing a shirt,” Sheldon remarked.

“Yeah, but why are you wearing it?” Leonard wasn’t letting the subject be changed.

“Isn’t it obvious, Leonard?” Sheldon stood up after helping Howard dismantle the transporter toys. “She slept in them and in our haste to return home, she forgot to change.”

“But why was she in _your_ clothes?” Leonard wasn’t letting this go. He stood up a little straighter and took a step closer to his roommate.

“They’re not _my_ clothes. They belong to the Sheldon Cooper of the parallel universe,” Sheldon corrected him.

“Same difference,” Leonard stepped even closer.

“It was just something to sleep in, Leonard,” Penny stood in between them, stopping the shorter physicist from doing anything he might regret. “Sheldon was making sure I was comfortable instead of having to sleep in my jeans, you know, my day clothes.”

Leonard looked to Penny and stepped back, deciding to let it go. It was just Sheldon. Nothing to get worked up about and he really didn’t have the right to get so worked up about anything between them anymore, anyhow. He let out a sigh. He and Penny were just friends now. He said he could deal with it and that’s what he intended to do – be friends.

“So what was the parallel universe like?” Howard thought it might be best to change the subject.

“Pretty similar to here,” Penny replied, “The only real difference was that my other self never moved to California or moved across the hall.”

“Though, despite that, there still are some constants throughout the universe,” Sheldon said. Penny smiled at him, and he gave a whisper of one in return.

“How about we all go out to celebrate?” Howard suggested.

“Are you suggesting a celebratory breakfast? It’s still morning,” Sheldon looked at his watch.

“Yeah, and it can be on Raj,” Bernadette patted his shoulder. He looked at her in protest and she replied, “Don’t look at me like that. Howie told me how stinking rich you are.”

Raj shrugged and gave a thumbs-up to everybody. Breakfast was on him.

“We can take two cars,” Leonard suggested, “Mine and Raj’s.”

“Speaking of cars, we found yours in the comic book store’s parking lot, Penny,” Amy said, “Is there something wrong with it?”

“Yeah, the engine sorta… died,” Penny replied.

“Something that was bound to happen as you always ignored your check engine light,” Sheldon commented.

“Thank you, Sheldon,” Penny remarked back. Looks like everything was still normal between the two of them.

“You’re welcome?” Sheldon furrowed his brows. He paused for a moment, “Listen, everyone, before we go out and break my routine for one final time, may I have a moment in private with Penny?”

“Uh, sure… I guess so,” Leonard replied.

“We’ll just wait in the hall because we still need to get dressed before we leave,” Howard pointed out.

“Right,” Penny nodded.

“Don’t forget to change out of Sheldon’s clothes,” Bernadette said as they started toward the door.

“Right… so after this, I’ll just text you guys when I’m ready,” Penny looked down at herself.

“Or we’ll knock on your door to say we’re ready. Whatever comes first,” Leonard nodded.

“Sounds good,” Penny replied.

“I’m so glad you’re back, Bestie,” Amy smiled.

“Me too, Amy,” Penny replied. Everybody left the apartment, leaving Sheldon and Penny alone once again.

“What’s up, Moon Pie?” Penny tilted her head.

“Firstly, as I have told you time and time again, only MeeMaw can call me that,” Sheldon held up a finger and Penny bit back a smile. She couldn’t help herself, “Secondly, I have an inquiry for you.”

“Shoot,” Penny answered.

“Has our relationship paradigm changed?” Sheldon looked at her with all seriousness.

“How do you mean?” Penny wasn’t following. He couldn’t be asking what she thought he was asking.

“You’ve slept in, for all intents and purposes, my clothes, went out to dinner with me, and slept on me _twice_ ,” Sheldon listed, “Does that not change our relationship?”

Penny looked thoughtful for a moment and stepped a little closer to him, “I guess it does, Sheldon.”

“It does?” Sheldon looked a little scared.

“Yeah,” Penny nodded, “I guess this changes our relationship from good friends… to best friends.”

“Best friends?” Sheldon looked less scared and more relaxed.

“You’re my best friend, Sheldon,” Penny smiled. Pressing her luck, she enveloped her tall, lanky physicist into another hug. He stood there with his hands hovering over her back, awkwardly. After a moment, he returned the hug, with not quite as much vigor, but Penny appreciated it all the same. With Sheldon Cooper, you took what you could get.

“And after all the data I’ve collected from the past few days, past five years, really, I’ve reached the conclusion that you are also my best friend, Penny,” Sheldon replied.

She released him from the hug, “You don’t have to worry about that changing, Sheldon. That’s one thing that will remain constant forever.”

“Throughout the universe,” Sheldon completed and gave her that true Sheldon Cooper smile he always reserved for her once more.

**The End**

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I made a rough 'poster' for this story when I first wrote it a couple years ago on Paint. I have no computer/art skills really. Here it is:

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed my first ever delve into the Big Bang Theory universe. I wanted to have just the right amount of Shenny fluff with hints of something more… just like the show. Please let me know what you thought of the story!! Yay or Boo? :)


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